Trailing visiting Owosso at the half, the Ionia boys soccer team regrouped in the second, scoring two goals to force overtime, setting them up for a 3-2 win in the second extra session.

"That was an amazing game. It was a lot of fun," Ionia coach Aaron Baylis said. "I felt that we dominated about 35 minutes of the first half and just had a little let down and they scored and we didn't recover. I just wanted to get to the half (after Owosso's first goal), and we were in our defensive mode to get to the half and we didn't make it.

"The guys came out and played with all heart in the second half. I knew if we could score in the first 10 minutes of the second half we would make it a game."

The game was an emotional one for the Bulldogs (7-8-1). Not only was it the final regular-season home game for Ionia, but it was also the team's Community Awareness Week purple game.

Instead of the normal white home jerseys with blue trim, the Bulldogs wore purple shirts with white trim. On the back of each jersey was the name of a cancer survivor or someone who lost their battle with the disease.

"It was an emotional game and the biggest thing was keeping the emotions in check a little," Baylis said. "I thought the officials did a good job letting the players play through the emotion. They knew it was going to be an emotional game and they did a nice job too."

The Trojans two scores came three minutes apart, with about four minutes and one minute left in the first half.

In the second, Ionia senior Corbin Kuhns took a ball from Chris Ahmed and got behind the defense. He didn't miss with a shot to the upper right corner of the net, cutting the Dawgs deficit in half.

Ionia continued to control play, creating multiple scoring chances, but were unable to capitalize until the 4:30 mark when Ahmed centered the ball along the ground from right of the goal.

Teammate Adam Oliveros broke toward the goal and chipped the

ball up and over the head of the goalkeeper to tie the game.

After a scoreless first extra session, the Bulldogs were able to take the lead nine minutes into the second OT when Khuns got the ball to Ahmed, who got behind the defense, and scored the game-winning goal.

Baylis said his seniors led the way Thursday night, like they have all season.

"(The seniors) have led the team all year," he said. "We've got a young team other than those seniors and they have done a nice job.

"Tonight they really stepped up. I felt like we could win this game because we have those guy."